Hanford

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A place in southeastern Washington State that was once home to a major plutonium production complex for nuclear weapons
2. The name of a town in southeastern Washington State, known for the Manhattan Project site and its nuclear waste cleanup
3. An area in southeastern Washington State where plutonium was produced for the United States nuclear weapons program during World War II and the Cold War

Etymology: The name "Hanford" is a place name, not a coinage, and its literal meaning is old-fashioned English: "old way." The first element comes from Welsh "hen," meaning "old," and the second is "ford," a crossing point on a river, which in turn gave the place its sense of a route. The Welsh-plus-English mix reflects the mixed settlement history behind many English place names, though the source offers no detail beyond the two parts. The place is known to most people today only for what happened there. Hanford, in southeastern Washington State, was chosen during the Second World War as a site for plutonium production for the Manhattan Project, and the name has since come to stand for the nuclear weapons complex built there. Its meaning as a common noun is therefore a borrowing from geography: the old crossing gave its name to the land, and the land gave its name to the weapons program.